The Amazing Race's Dennis and Isabelle: We Didn't Over-Prepare

Dennis and Isabelle went as far as to design their own Amazing Race course in preparation for the show. But there was one thing they didn't train for: punting a boat. "I had never heard of punting until this!" Isabelle tells TVGuide.com. The couple was moving along Leg 2 swimmingly until they got swept up in a current and lodged in a corner in the river. How long were they stuck there? Find out below. Plus: What kind of season do they want to see?

How far behind were you? Did you see Shelley and Nici at all after the punting?Dennis:

We saw them docking when we were getting to the docks, so we were trying get there as fast as we could. But we saw them, so we knew we were last.Isabelle: It was like minutes. It was really, really close. At the Pit Stop, we saw their backpacks on the ground.Dennis: Literally five, maybe 10 minutes. I think what tripped us up was we took a while to find a taxi.Isabelle: It was crazy because in London, people were so happy to help you, but for some reason in Oxford, no one was really willing to. I don't know. Maybe they were intimidated by us running up to them. I have no idea. We had a hard time finding someone to help us get a taxi.How long were you stuck in that corner?Dennis: We were there for over an hour.Isabelle: Just in that corner. We were so ahead of the other teams. That's the crazy part. A lot of teams had to do it multiple times and we were still on our first round. The later the day gets, the stronger the current gets. Everybody had trouble with that. It literally pulled us and pushed us into trees and rocks. You only had a stick. It's not like we're professionals or we've done it before or rowing a boat. You're taking a stick and pole-vaulting into the murky waters and into the mud, and pushing and pulling yourself against this current.Dennis: You're flying everywhere. And if you didn't know how to navigate or turn your boat, you just had a very difficult time. It's a skill that you have to train for and learn. ... I think other teams might have had an easier time, like Adam and Bethany, because they're used to the water. They're from Hawaii. They breezed through it. The rest of us, we were grabbing onto the wall and racing for survival.Isabelle: It's not about strength. There were other punters on the river and they were barely using their muscles to do it. It's definitely about knowing how to navigate the current.Do you think it was just bad luck that you were pulled in there? Some teams had trouble, but they weren't stuck in one spot like you were.Dennis: When we got stuck in a different stream, we got out of there. Other teams flew all the way down the wrong stream and had to start over. We were able to keep control in the correct stream, but we couldn't get past the cross-streams.Isabelle: I think a lot of people need to realize that Amazing Race is 50 percent training and preparation and the other 50 percent really is luck. That's what makes this game so unpredictable. If we were to do it all over again, there'd be different results.I always feel bad when super-fans lose and lose early. You guys were clearly huge fans of the show. Dennis: It's painful watching Isabelle cry. It's tough. We are super-fans. We're true fans of The Amazing Race. To be able to get on the show is just an honor. A lot of the other teams are super-fans too, but I honestly don't like watching people run the Race that are not super-fans. [Laughs]Isabelle: Yeah. It's hard to play the game with people who've barely seen it or don't know what it's about. Like, "Why are you doing this?!"Dennis: At this point, 25 seasons in, there are so many hardcore fans who want to be on the show, I feel like we should have die-hards come on and it'll be a celebration of the whole series.Isabelle: How about a super-fan season? What if you did a memory challenge of all the seasons?

I would love that because the memory tasks have been lacking the past few seasons. My favorite one was Season 12 when they had to the place correct objects on the scale.Isabelle: Yeah! I love that one too! That was Christina and her dad. ... We were rooting for them because they were so close and had such a big lead. They got to come back [for Unfinished Business] at least.Dennis: Yeah, I miss that kind of memory challenge that was actually hard.Isabelle: Those were great. I would love to see more regular people who need the $1 million, who have a desire to be on the show.Dennis: Yeah, I don't want to see more semi-celebrities who wants to further their spotlight.They can have a celebrity season. Phil's talked about that.Isabelle: Yeah, they should do that. They are interesting to watch for sure. I think they deserve to have their own season and super-fans should have their own. [Laughs]You went all out preparing for the show, but you obviously overlooked punting.Dennis: [Laughs] We're from Orange County and there's no place to punt. ... Punting is for shallow waters. We don't have that over here. If there was, we would've definitely learned it. We were out here paddle-boarding. Isabelle and I got that down. Punting is way different.Isabelle: I think it's funny because a lot of people have been like, "Do you think you over-prepared?" No. You want to do that regardless. Anybody going on the Race wants to over-prepare. Why do you think it's a bad thing? The truth is, there's no real way to ever truly prepare because it changes all the time. We didn't know about The Save. The fans found out about The Save before we did because Phil told all the people there at [the start line]. This game always changes. That's the beauty of The Amazing Race. It's a unique stress environment. You have to over-prepare because you just don't know.Dennis: It's better to over-prepare than to under-prepare.Isabelle: A lot of their challenges from the first two legs were similar from past seasons. Like Season 17, where they were on a boat that KevJumba and his dad were on, and everybody was falling over. That was about balance. ... Uncovering those treasures was like the finding the sandcastles on the beach. There are some familiar moments. It's nice to be able to go, "Oh, I remember this. This is the best way to go about it."And they have the Switchback and you literally redo the same task.Isabelle: Right! We were not ready to do the bale one!Well, they already did that and the cheese. The two iconic ones.Dennis: Right. When I saw the boat and had to get to the island in the first leg, the first thing I thought of KevJumba and his dad, and I tried to be zen like them!

What are you up to now?Isabelle: After the Race, we're closer than ever. We were scared before the Race that this would tear us apart. I'm so happy that we're closer than ever. We started a blog together called myboyfriendsclothes.com. It's me wearing his clothes and I style it my way. He wears his clothes his way. We put the photos next to each other. We're each other's creative directors and photographers and stylists.Dennis: What I noticed was when Isabelle had nothing to wear, she would borrow my clothes. [Laughs] She didn't do laundry! Or she was waiting for me to do laundry.I think you should grow out your hair again and wear the same clothes.Isabelle: [Laughs] Oh, no!Dennis: Yeah! How'd you like that? I'm going to grow out my hair again. I'll look like freakin' Mufasa.Isabelle: Don't give him ideas!When you do the super-fan season, you'll be prepared to punt and you'll have long hair. The Fast Forward will be shaving your head.Isabelle: That would definitely be more dramatic for the shaving head task!Dennis: I would have a harder time than Isabelle!Isabelle: He would! I'd be like, "I'm bald! Hurry up! Let's go!"The Amazing Race airs Fridays at 8/7c on CBS. Check out our behind-the-scenes footage from the start line: